


ready or not

by poodleyeol



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Adoption, Cooking, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Father's Day, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 21:44:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12734892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poodleyeol/pseuds/poodleyeol
Summary: A week before adopting their first daughter, Sehun comes home to a strange surprise from Chanyeol.





	ready or not

**Author's Note:**

> !! ATTENTION !!  
>  This fic is part of a drabble shiritori with other chanhun fic writers! The last sentence of the fic before mine was the first sentence of my fic, and then the last sentence of this fic will be the first sentence of the next one, etc.  
> Lea, you’re next~ (i hope my last sentence was okay to start on, i’m sorry if it’s not ahaha…)
> 
> the second i knew my starting sentence was “something is burning” i was SO excited because i knew i finally had an opportunity to write a domestic!au, even though it’s a pretty obvious direction to go in ^^ please enjoy~

 

 

 

Something is burning.

 

That’s the first thing Sehun thinks when he opens the door to their apartment, a harsh smell filling his nostrils just as he notices the cloud of smog billowing in from the kitchen, right before he hears the ear-splitting pitch of the fire alarm.

 

Trying not to panic, Sehun rushes to the source of the smoke, a hundred questions already jumping to his mind -  _ where is Chanyeol? Is he home? Is he hurt? _

 

But all Sehun sees when he gets to the doorway is a flustered and very alive Chanyeol, with a fry pan in one hand, singed wooden spoon in the other, as he stamps frantically on a hand towel that’s gone up in embers. And it would be a pretty comical scene if it wasn’t happening right in front of Sehun, in his now very messy kitchen, with his very nice hardwood floor that’s probably moments away from irreversible fire damage.

 

Quickly filling a glass from the sink, Sehun chucks a splash of water onto the pile of flames that have started eating up Chanyeol’s bare foot. He then opens the closest window before reaching up to the small white box on their ceiling, tugging out the alarm’s batteries and finally putting an end to it’s incessant noise.

 

The only sound left is Chanyeol’s heavy breathing as he slowly seems to calm down beside Sehun. When Chanyeol finally looks up to meet his gaze, all Sehun can do is stare back, shocked, waiting for some kind of explanation. 

 

“Happy Father’s Day…?” Chanyeol tries, his face scrambling into a hesitant smile.

 

Sehun doesn’t feel any less confused. “Huh?”

 

Setting down the spoon and fry pan - which Sehun now notices is caked with some kind of burnt mince - Chanyeol wipes his hands on his apron and takes a deep breath.

 

“Today’s Father’s Day, and since we’re going to be fathers in a week… I thought we could do something nice to celebrate. So I was going to surprise you with a homecooked meal once you came home from work… but…”

 

But instead Chanyeol created an apocolyptic event in their kitchen. The once white but now charcoal hand towel lies limp on top of it’s own ashes, and as Sehun looks around, he notices more smoke escaping from the edges of the oven. The majority of their pots and pans are out of their cabinets, splayed haphazhardly arcoss the counters and all containing different concoctions that all look equally unedible. There’s splashes of reds and browns pretty much everywhere, some of them dripping and some already hardened, and even though Sehun dreading all the clean up they’ll have to do tonight, he can’t help but break out into a fit of laughter.

 

“Do you think… any of it is salvagable for dinner?” Chanyeol asks as Sehun gives everything a proper good look, walking around to each pot, his nose wrinkling as some of their own smells waft out over the scent of burning.

 

“Probably… not,” Sehun replies, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. “It’s okay, I’m sure I can whip something together, and we have leftover rice, right?”

 

Still chuckling, Sehun heads to the fridge to find a few eggs, kimchi, and tomato sauce. “You’re so hopeless in the kitchen,” Sehun starts. “How are you going to feed our daughter on nights when I’m not home?”

 

Enjoying his own joke maybe a bit too much, Sehun’s fit of giggles comes back, only stopping when he realises that Chanyeol hasn’t joined in, and when Sehun turns around, Chanyeol eyes are downcast to the floor, lips jutted in a slight pout.

 

Instantly, Sehun’s heart sinks with guilt. Desperate to lighten to mood, he blurts out, “On the bright side, she’ll only need milk and baby mush for the first few months, you’ve got time to learn!”

 

Chanyeol’s expression doesn’t change, and he only lets out a small dejected sigh.

 

Moving in closer, Sehun places a hand on Chanyeol’s pink cheek and rubs it softly with his thumb. “Hey, don’t worry. You’re gonna do great,” Sehun says, lowering his tone. “There’s plenty of stuff you’ll be able to do.”

 

Glancing up at Sehun, Chanyeol’s pout grows bigger. “Like what?”

 

“Hmm,” Sehun takes a moment to think. “Well, you’re never as grumpy as me when you get woken up, so you’ll be able to do all the diaper changes in the middle of the night!”

 

“Hey!” Chanyeol exclaims, but the corners of his mouth lift slightly. “Don’t pawn off all the hard chores to me!”

 

He gives Sehun a small teasing poke into his side. “Besides,” Chanyeol adds. “I’m such a heavy sleeper anyway, there’s a good chance I’ll sleep through her crying.”

 

“Oh, god,” Sehun groans, the pair now sharing a matching grin. “We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

 

Ignoring the rest of the kitchen for the time being, Sehun uses their only untouched pan to cook up a sad, three-egg omlette, while Chanyeol grabs some rice from their rice cooker and tops it with kimchi. They sit across from each other and eat their make-shift omurice in the dining room  - it was mutually decided that having dinner in front of the TV isn’t something the couple should be doing as new parents. A fully set up baby chair from the baby shower last fortnight stands, tall and proud, at the head of the table, watching the meal take place.

 

The room is mostly quiet, aside from the noises of chewing and working cutlery, until Chanyeol suddenly breaks the silence.

 

“Do you really think we’re ready to adopt?” he asks. His voice is wavering just as much as the last 300 times he’s brought this up.

 

Sehun looks up at him calmly. “It’s a bit late to be worried about that, Chanyeol.”

 

“I’m serious!” Chanyeol puts his fork down next to his plate. “She’s going to be here in a  _ week _ ! One week, Sehun! And we don’t even have a name for her yet!”

 

“Yes, we do,” Sehun replies between bites. “We’re calling her Joohyun.”

 

Chanyeol’s brows furrow in response. “You mean  _ Sooyoung _ .”

 

“ _ Joohyun _ ,” Sehun insists.

 

“ _ Sooyoung. _ ”

 

“Okay, okay, we’ll compromise,” Sehun says, putting up his hands in fake agreement. “Soohyun?”

 

“We should have worked this out by now, Sehun,” Chanyeol groans, burying his head in his palms, defeated. “See what I mean? We’re a mess.”

 

His heart twinging, Sehun reaches across the table, stroking Chanyeol’s arm. “Everything will be fine, I promise.”

 

Looking up at Sehun, Chanyeol narrows his eyes. “I know you’ve been nervous, too, you’re just hiding it.”

 

He gently takes Sehun’s hand in his and gestures to his fingers. “You’ve been chewing on your nails almost every day, I’ve never even seen you do that before…”

 

Quickly drawing back, Sehun hides his bad habit under the table. Chanyeol’s right, his nails haven’t looked this ratty since his parent’s divorce back in third grade.

 

“You know what, Chanyeol?” Sehun starts. “I don’t think we’ll ever feel ready.”

 

“Wait, what?” Chanyeol blinks.

 

“We have all the baby furniture, clothes, toys and diapers we’ll ever need. We’ve read every parenting book, pamphlet and blog we could get our hands on. You even baby proofed our house  _ six months ago _ , and she won’t even be crawling when we get her!” Sehun takes the final bite of his meal and swallows. “Face it, there’s nothing else we can do.”

 

“Sehun, I don’t know if you’re still trying to make me feel better,” Chanyeol falls back, deflated in his chair. “But it’s not working--”

 

“It’s like when you go on holiday,” Sehun continues over Chanyeol’s complaints. “And you’ve packed everything, but the second you leave the house, it feels like you’ve forgotten something really important, something you can’t leave without--”

 

“Yes! That’s  _ exactly _ how I’m feeling!” Chanyeol cries.

 

“But when you get to your destination, you realise you didn’t forget anything at all,” Sehun smiles, leaning his elbows onto the table. “It’s just your brain playing tricks on you ‘cause you’re nervous.”

 

Unconvinced, Chanyeol’s face scrunches into a frown. “This isn’t a holiday, Sehun. It’s a  _ child _ \-- it’s  _ our _ child! I don’t wanna fuck this up--”

 

“ _ Screw _ this up,” Sehun corrects - the pair cut out all swearing in preparation a year ago.

 

“Right.” Chanyeol deadpans. “ _ Screw _ this up.”

 

It probably wasn’t the best time for that, Sehun admits, as he gazes over Chanyeol’s slumped shoulders, head hanging as he picks at a thread of table cloth.

 

If he’s completely honest, though, Sehun is just as freaked out as him. He desperately wants to do a good job, so their daughter can be happy and healthy and get the best out of life, and he’s scared that with two dads, the odds might be stacked against her.

 

But when he sees Chanyeol like this, worrying himself into a miserable spiral, it’s almost effortless for Sehun to push away his fears and save him. Because once he’s convinced Chanyeol that everything’s okay, he’s convinced himself, too.

 

“Chanyeol,” Sehun makes his voice soft. “I promise you that everyone feels like this before having a kid.” He lays his hand on the table, palm up for Chanyeol to take. “But I’m certain you’re going to be the best dad in the whole world, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing this.”

 

Intertwining his fingers with Sehun’s, Chanyeol squeezes. “I can’t imagine being as good a dad as you. You’re so levelheaded and calm, even now… And I’m so… frantic.”

 

“You  _ are _ pretty frantic,” Sehun responds, and before Chanyeol can say anything else, he adds, “But you’re also spontaneous and fun. The kid will like you more ‘cause you won’t be serious and strict like me.”

 

Despite himself, Chanyeol lets out a small chuckle, and Sehun’s heart warms. “Oh yeah, I’m going to take her to the amusement park every weekend--”

 

“Don’t you dare!” Sehun interjects. “Those places are a waste of money.”

 

“ _ And _ ,” Chanyeol continues, his grin growing even brighter. “I’m going to buy her  _ all _ the candy she wants behind your back!”

 

“If you do, I swear to god, I’ll--” Sehun starts, but has no reason to finish when Chanyeol’s already laughing, his eyes crinkled and all his teeth showing, even hitting his fist on the table a few times. When he’s finally stopped, Sehun can’t help but smile back, and there’s no other man he’d prefer to be doing this with.

 

“I think we’re both going to make great dads,” Sehun says, raising his wine glass filled with water - alcohol is yet another thing they decided to give up on for the kid. “Happy Father’s Day, Chanyeol.”

 

Chanyeol’s startled look tells Sehun he must have already forgotten about it, but he grabs his drink and cheers him anyway. “Happy Father’s Day, Sehun.”

 

~

 

Later that night, the couple finally decide to tackle the horror scene left in the kitchen. Sehun’s trying to scrape some kind of sticky meat out of a pot when Chanyeol starts speaking again from the basin.

 

“You know, I think you’re right.”

 

Sehun glances back to see Chanyeol with his arms deep in suds, before turning back to his mission. “Yeah?”

 

“I’m sure I’ll never  _ feel _ ready,” Chanyeol replies over the sounds of squeaky rubber gloves and plates. “But it’s my imagination… I’m sure we are ready, or at least, as ready as we’ll ever be.”

 

From his post in front of the trash can, Sehun looks over the rest of the apartment. He imagines him and Chanyeol, cuddled up on the couch with a small, warm bundle of human in their arms. Chanyeol holding up his phone, filming her first steps across the wooden floors while Sehun can only watch in amazement. The three of them huddled over her homework at the table with a plate of cookies to get them through. Bringing out a mattress in front of the TV when she’s finally old enough to marathon Marvel movies.

 

As the nerves and excitement race through his heart, Sehun smiles to himself.

 

“Yeah, we got this.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading my fic!! I hope you liked ittt ><
> 
> If you enjoyed it PLEASEEEEEE leave a comment, even if it’s a short one, it’ll make my day <3
> 
> If you liked this soft, fluffy domestic chanhun!au i have another very similar one, as well as two very smutty chanhun fics, so if you’re interested please check them out!
> 
> I’m @poodleyeol on twitter, tumblr, ask/fm and curiouscat so please come and be my friend, i’m always looking for more friends oUo
> 
> Once again thank you for reading my little drabble ;U;


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